How do countries die? The 3 (or 4) forms of state extinction

How do countries cease to exist? In this video, I explore the three main ways that states can become extinct. However, as I also show, a worrying new - fourth - form of state death is now on the horizon. Welcome to Independent Thinking. A channel dedicated to international relations, independence disputes, secession and the origins of countries. The subject of state death, or the extinction of states, is in many ways an overlooked topic. Most people seem more interested in how new states come about. However, how countries cease to exist has very real consequences. Using a range of recent examples, this video explores the three main ways in which states have traditionally died. While two of these forms remain active, it shows that one type has actually become obsolete under contemporary international law. Meanwhile, we are now facing the emergence of an entirely new form of state extinction - a fourth type of state death that the international community is still wholly unprepared to manage, either legally or politically.